All Over America Evangelical Christians Are Being Labeled As “Extremists” And “Hate Groups”

Are evangelical Christians rapidly becoming one of the most hated minorities in America? Once upon a time such a notion would have been unthinkable, but these days things are changing dramatically. All over the United States, evangelical Christians are being called “extremists” and evangelical Christian organizations are being labeled as “hate groups”. In fact, as I will detail later on in this article, a U.S. Army Reserve training presentation recently specifically identified evangelical Christians as “religious extremists”. This should be extremely chilling for all evangelical Christians out there, because as history has shown us over and over again, when you want to persecute a particular group of people the first step is always to demonize them. And that is exactly what is being done to evangelical Christians today. Just look at how evangelical Christians are being portrayed on television and in the movies. Just look at how much hate is being spewed at Christians on the Internet. The Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU, both of which are considered to be among the most prominent “civil rights” organizations in the United States, are seemingly obsessed with attacking evangelical Christians. It has become trendy to bash Christians, and that is a very frightening thing. After they have finished demonizing evangelical Christians, what will the next step be?

A U.S. Army Reserve equal opportunity training presentation entitled “Extremism and Extremist Organizations” actually included “Evangelical Christianity” as an example of “Religious Extremism” in a list that also included al-Qaeda, Hamas and the Ku Klux Klan. You can find a copy of the entire presentation right here[2].

Is this how evangelical Christians will be treated in the future? Will evangelical Christians be treated like members of the Ku Klux Klan or like members of al-Qaeda?

A U.S. Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief describes “Evangelical Christianity” and “Catholicism” as examples of “religious extremism,” according to the Archdiocese for the Military Services and the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, who shared a copy of the documents with The Christian Post.

“The number of hate groups, extremists and anti‐govt organizations in the U.S. has continued to grow over the past three years, according to reports by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They increased to 1,018 in 2011, up from 1,002 in 2010 and 602 in 2000,” reads the first page of the slide presentation labeled “Extremism & Extremist Organizations.”

Listed alongside “extremist” groups and organizations like the Klu Klux Klan and al-Qaida, the U.S. Army slideshow has “Evangelical Christianity” as the first bullet, followed by the Muslim Brotherhood, Ultra-Orthodox Judaism and farther down on the slide, Catholicism.

Posted below is a picture of the slide entitled “Religious Extremism”…

[4]

Below that slide there is accompanying text that condemns any religion that believes that it is the only “right way” and that believes that other religions are wrong…

Extremism is a complex phenomenon; it is defined as beliefs, attitudes, feelings, actions, or strategies of a character far removed from the “ordinary.” Because “ordinary” is subjective, no religious group would label itself extreme or its doctrine “extremism.” However, religious extremism is not limited to any single religion, ethnic group, or region of the world; every religion has some followers that believe that their beliefs, customs and traditions are the only “right way” and that all others are practicing their faith the “wrong way,” seeing and believing that their faith/religion superior to all others.

Well, that is exactly what evangelical Christians believe. They believe that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is the only payment for sin and thus the only way to be reconciled to God. Unfortunately, this belief is now enough to be labeled as a “religious extremist”.

But of course it is not just the government that is demonizing Christians these days.

Just look at what the reaction on social media has been to the death of the son of Pastor Rick Warren.

A lot of people out there have decided to use the death of his mentally ill son as an opportunity to spew hatred toward Pastor Rick Warren and his faith. The following are a few examples of this hate that have been posted on Twitter…

–@GinsburgJobs[19]@marlenan21[20] Rick Warren has done terrible damage; my first thought was that his son was gay thats why he did it. Its sad for the boy.

–@anyprophet[21] so who else is shocked that rick warren drove his gay son to suicide?

–@TheReallyRick[22] Son of Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren has committed suicide. Place your bets on when its discovered he was gay. #ReligionKills[23]#TCOT[24]

Sadly, those are some of the cleaner examples. There are many more which include language that is definitely not appropriate for children to read.

So why are evangelical Christians hated so much? Well, the truth is that they are primarily hated because of what they believe. Attempts to intimidate evangelical Christians into changing their beliefs continue to become more frightening. The following are just a few examples…

1 – A student at Florida Atlantic University was recently suspended from class[25]for refusing “to write the word ‘Jesus’ on a piece of paper, fold it up, and step on it.”

2 – A 14-year-old homeschooler in Maryland received multiple death threats[26]after testifying in favor of traditional marriage before the Maryland state senate.

3 – A 14-year-old student at a public school in Texas was suspended from school[27] for saying that he believes that homosexuality is wrong.

4 – A gay activist group that smashed up a church in Oregon says that it hopes that it will “strike fear into the hearts[28]” of Christian leaders…

The group that allegedly smashed up a Portland church hopes its “small act of vengeance will strike fear into the hearts of” Christian leaders who teach traditional sexual morality, according to an e-mail message the group released to the public. A group calling itself “Angry Queers” has claimed responsibility for throwing baseball-sized rocks through nine church windows[29] in Portland’s Mars Hill Church, including two 100-year-old stained glass panes.

6 – Some gay activists up in Illinois[31] actually threw concrete brick pavers through the glass doors of one Christian organization in an attempt to intimidate them…

Pro-homosexual activists attacked the Christian Liberty Academy early October 15th – throwing two large, concrete brick pavers through its glass doors with a hate-note attached– and then issued an online statement[32] claiming responsibility for the crime. The attackers demanded that CLA “shut down” a banquet it was hosting later that evening for the “homophobic hate group,” Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH).

8 – Street preachers all over America are being threatened with arrest just for standing on street corners and preaching the gospel. Here is one recent example from Illinois[34]…

“I did pretty much the same thing: I preached about twenty minutes, and I handed out a few tracts,” Johnson explained. “[W]hen I got in my car to leave, … and as I was getting ready to start the car, the police zoomed up and turned on their lights, and told me to get out of the car.”

“They pretty much said the same thing,” he continued. “They said, ‘You’re not supposed to raise your voice or scare anybody and tell people they’re going to die.’ I said, ‘Well, what if that building’s on fire and I raise my voice and tell people if they don’t leave, they’re going to die? Is that wrong?’”

And the Southern Poverty Law Center is very open about who they consider the enemy to be. The following are just a few prominent evangelical Christian organizations that the SPLC identifies as hate groups[35]…

The American Family Association

Concerned Women for America

Coral Ridge Ministries

Family Research Council

Anyone that is familiar with any of those groups knows that they are absolutely not hate groups. In fact, they are filled with tremendously loving people. The people that make up organizations such as those are the backbone of America.

But these days there are many liberal organizations that will label anyone that does not agree with them as a “hate group” at the drop of a hat.

The truth, of course, is that all of those individuals and organizations are deeply patriotic and are trying to turn America around. It is the SPLC that is the one that is filled with hate, and they clearly have a very deep hatred for anyone that does not agree with them.

Sadly, what is happening to evangelical Christians in America is just part of a larger trend that is happening all over the globe. The following is from a recentReuters article[37]…

About 100 million Christians are persecuted around the world, with conditions worsening for them most rapidly in Syria and Ethiopia, according to an annual report by a group supporting oppressed Christians worldwide.

Open Doors, a non-denominational Christian group, listed North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan as the three toughest countries for Christians last year. They topped the 50-country ranking for 2011 as well.

Persecution of Christians is on the rise, and it is probably only going to get worse in the years ahead.

Remember what happened in Nazi Germany. There was a long program of demonization against the groups that the Nazis hated before they ever started to round them up and take them off to camps.

In the end, those that are now demonizing evangelical Christians will not just be satisfied with calling them names. They ultimately want much more, and what we are witnessing now is just the warm-up act.

[5] Patriots And Christians Have Been Repeatedly Labeled As Potential Terrorists Since Obama Became President: http://thetruthwins.com/archives/patriots-and-christians-have-been-repeatedly-labeled-as-potential-terrorists-since-obama-became-president